MOOR-HEN. 57 



another placed in a fir tree twenty feet above the 

 water. R. T. Davidson, Esq., of Muirhouse, has in- 

 formed me of a nest he found, thirty feet from the 

 water, near the river Blackadder, at precisely the same 

 height in the same kind of tree. 



The nest has been seen quite unattached to any 

 fixture, though surrounded by loose sticks, and thus 

 at the mercy of the winds and waves. Moor- Hens 

 have been known both to hatch their eggs after being 

 removed in part of the nest to another place, and also 

 themselves to remove them, when threatened with 

 destruction by the rising of the water; fresh materials 

 being in each case brought together. J. H. Gurney, 

 Esq. and W. R. Fisher, Esq. have recorded an instance 

 in which they knew the nest of a Moor-Hen placed in 

 a fir plantation at a distance of a quarter of a mile 

 from any water. I have seen one myself placed at 

 some height above the water on a fallen branch of a 

 tree, which formed a natural bridge over a river. 



The eggs are usually five, six, seven, or eight, in 

 number; nine or ten have, however, been often seen 

 in one nest. They are of a reddish or yellowish white 

 colour, spotted and speckled all over with reddish brown; 

 they vary exceedingly in size. Three broods are com- 

 monly reared in the year, sometimes it has been thought 

 even four; the first eggs are laid the end of April or 

 in May, and are, in early seasons or localities, hatched 

 in the latter month, but otherwise not till June. It is 

 a curious fact that the youngest brood is carefully 

 and kindly attended to by that which is its elder, as 

 both are at the same time by the parents, but when 

 a third comes, it is to the abandonment of the first. 



Incubation continues three weeks. The young 

 soon leave the nest, still attended by their mother, 



VOL. III. I 



